I was extremely upset with MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar for refusing DRS: Shashi Tharoor

India’s Parliament Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor is a big cricket fan and has often called himself a ‘cricket tragic’. There have been many instances when the politician has hailed the game of cricket as his favorite sport and has revealed that his love for the game started at a very young age.

Recently, Tharoor was found singing praises for the Decision Review System (DRS). The politician referred to DRS as one of cricket’s best innovations and also expressed his disappointment with the former Indian captains MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar for not being familiar with this amazing technology in the early years of its inception. 

In an exclusive interview with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda Cricket’s Facebook page, the former diplomat said that he has been an advocate of DRS from the start and never understood why the Indian cricket team was apprehensive in making use of this technology in the early days. 

“I’m a huge fan of technology. I’ve been an advocate of DRS from the start, and I was extremely upset with Dhoni and Tendulkar for refusing it. I watch cricket and every time, I’ve found that we were hard done by umpiring decisions. I never understood why we were so allergic to DRS,” Tharoor said. 

DRS is such a major innovation, says Shashi Tharoor 

Notably, this technology-based system, used in cricket to assist the match officials with their decision-making, was first bought in play during an India vs Sri Lanka match back in 2008. It was then officially launched by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 24 November 2009 during the first Test between New Zealand and Pakistan at the University Oval in Dunedin.

Though the MS Dhoni-led Indian side was one of the first teams to use DRS, Dhoni was reluctant in bringing this technology into play often. It was only in the middle of the previous decade that the Indian team embraced this whole heartily and started using it all the matches. Interestingly, later MS was hailed as the master of using this technology at the correct time. 

Further in the interaction, the 64-year-old laid stress on the importance of DRS in this modern era of gentleman’s game and the impact that it creates on the result. The politician also added that he would never want to see cricket without the inclusion of DRS in it. 

“DRS is such a major innovation. I never want to see international cricket without DRS ever again. It is so indispensable and eliminates so many bad decisions, and it creates an additional form of excitement for the viewer. It adds an extra element of tension to the plot and it is a very welcome addition as far as I’m concerned,” Shashi Tharoor said.